CARY, N.C. -

Auction sales volumes at the midpoint of January were the strongest weekly output since before Thanksgiving, but they remain significantly softer than year-ago levels, says J.D. Power Valuation Services, bumping up prices in the lanes.

In the firm’s Used Market Update released Friday, J.D. Power said there were about 87,000 auction sales of vehicles up to 8 years old during the week ending Jan. 17.

That brings the market back to where it was during the fall, but still pales in comparison to the outset of 2020, the company said. There were approximately 115,000 auction sales in the opening week of 2020, J.D. Power said, indicating weekly volumes in 2021 have been about 25% to 35% softer than year-ago tallies.

But that may be good news for sellers in the lanes, given the upward impact on prices.

For the week ending Jan. 17, wholesale prices climbed 0.5%, according to the J.D. Power report, authored by analyst David Paris. 

That report indicates there hasn't been this deep a run of weekly hikes in values since August.

Compared to early March, auction prices are up 5%. Against where they fell to at the April trough, they have bounced back by 23%, J.D. Power said.

Turning back to the volume side, a chart in Black Book’s Market Insights report from Tuesday shows four consecutive weeks of improvements in the estimated average weekly sales rate at auctions.

For the week ending Saturday, the sales rate was at 57%. While not as high as pre-pandemic levels in early 2020 or the rates reached during the summer, it certainly is a major change of pace from the trough of 15% in April.

Based on Black Book’s chart, sales rates remained about 50% in the back stretch of the year, save for a week at 50% in late December.

“Sales rates remain above December levels as dealers are optimistic about increased used demand fueled by continued low new inventory levels, stimulus payments and the potential of a traditional spring/tax season,” Black Book said in the report.

That said, the firm acknowledged some “uncertainty” about what that season would entail this year.

“Early sentiments by dealers are optimistic and auction performance of the traditional spring market vehicles, those under $12,000, have seen an uptick in demand in the last few weeks,” Black Book said.

Analysts added: “Wholesale volume has shown improvement in recent weeks, especially with 2018 model year vehicles now coming off-lease. However, remarketers are still reporting lower than normal levels of volume in the pipeline for Q1.”

Elsewhere in Black Book’s report, it found that on a volume-weighted basis, there was softening for the 20th straight week in wholesale prices However, the amount of softening last week (0.21%) was lower than the prior week’s (0.31%) and the historical average (0.44%).

In a boots-on-the-ground example of some of the trends in the auction lanes, McConkey Auction Group chief executive officer Bob McConkey said in an update Monday that the group's auctions in Las Vegas, Seattle and Spokane, Wash., had sales percentages of 70%.

And its ABS Auto Auctions have gone four consecutive weeks of more than 1,000 vehicles sold digitally, he said. 

“We really don’t see any change in sight; as the market supply tightens it can only go up,” McConkey said in the update. “We feel fortunate to have dedicated consignors who trust our processes and results and continue to bring us ample consignment.”